Turner County herald. (Hurley, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1887-06-23
THE WESTERN STATES.

IuEsDAf iast WAS ny long ouus tue Wluest
day the Chicago Board Of Trade has ever
seen. The powerful wheat clique which has
mystifed and perpexed the speculative world
for over three months collapsed and loft its
principals bankrupt Two old and we'll
known commission firms-M. Rosenfeld & Co.,
and Hamill & Brine-were carried down with
the wreck, and dozens of others are
left tottering on the verge of ruin.
The two firms named lose upward of
s2,000,000. The total break for the day was
1916, and, without exception was the greatest
drop in wheat ever known. The market
opened for June wheat at 9114c, being the
closing of tho day previous, while July opened
at $3.50. June dropped 1c at q jump until
a &c decline had taken place, when all hands
took hold, and it recovered &c, where it stood
for a little whilo; then some holders began to
feel shaky and sell small lots, dropping the
prico slowly but surely, until whispers of tho
weakness of Rosenfed hoated through tho
air, when scramble to get from under took
place. and turned into general stampede
when the general announcement was made. A
Chicago paper thus recites tho history of this
great corner:
Ever since last April thero has been a syn
dicate Of capitalists which has sought to run n
successful corner in wheat. The deal began
came around several million bushels were
dumped into the laps of the brokers or repre-
& Co.. c.. Kershaw &Co, Irwin, Green e. Co.,
wore looked upon MS the agents employed to
hSndls han the business for the Syndicate
millions Of bushels of wheat were
bought bought to keep up this option. Prices
mptir IN
grain of the Northwest, the market Of the world.
When juno delivery day arrived the clique bro
or course margins were in demand. and the
banks were called upon to make advances on
the grain in store. These advances were based
but it looked up millions Of dollars in the bust.
ness. A. June advanced tho clique saw
that they had undertaken to move q
prevent tho arrival Of the groat crops of
whoat from Dakota corner in storage was
after road served notice that no more wheat
would be shipped to Chicago This brought
the shorts to the front with vengeance. There
are 800 members OF the Board Of Trade. About
5oo Of these are con.oombatnnts. Of the re-
manning AGO about 200 trade in wheat, and OF
these 200 not more than 200 are on the bull side
OF tho deal The other 1000 are what nro known
as shorts. They arc moro or loss small dealers,
and do commission business. Their custom
srs in the Northwest seeing tho market going
up and prices high, ordered thom to sell tho
stuff, being wen aware that they could not
hope to get a much bettor price for their
wheat. When the roads became blocked these
customers began to write letters oxpostulating
With thoir agents for not pushing tho matter.
These shorts then won't to the directors and
made complaints, and the result was that the
directors took up tho matter and determined to
crush out the clique in 80 far as the corner in
storage and blocking OF the railroads WAS con-
cerned. The farmers and shippers throughout
tho Norrhwest wero advised that they could de-
mand that tho railroads should take their grain
was sss
cry ont and the result was that tho syndicate
took fright
The second day of the troubles on the
Chicago Board of Trade resulted in the
failure of fifteen firms and the utter
collapse of tho corner in wheat
Tuesdays drop in wheat Of 10 cents was fol-
lowed up by further break of 615 cents on
Wednesday, from which there was but an in
significant rally at The close. Seventeen firms
were posted for failure to settle margins, and
while it is an utter impossibility to arrive at
anything definite in the matter of liabilities
of the stricken houses, it is safe to
say that over twenty million bushels
are involved, and that the loss on
this immense block is not less than
s5,C0O,OO0 This makes total of $4,000, 600
in two days. Among the collapsed firms are
such as G. ]. Kershaw & Co., Crosby & Co.,
Grigg, Son & Co., s D. Eldredgo & Co., ]. A
Edwards Co, Hord Bros. & Co., T. E. Bald
win & Co., J. H. Yourt Il Co., B. J. McCleary
& Co, s. G. Orr, NJ. 3. Crafts & Co., Picker
ing & Co, II. J. Sheldon, H K Matthews,
Hibbard & Co., N s Robinson Il Co.. and
Yourt Brearly The Tribune of Thursday
says ed:torislly:
The standard grade of wheat for delivery
during the current month sold yesterday In
this market for 50 cents per bushel. This is
The lowest point touched in Chicago since
the year 1862, and 1t wns reached only by vir.
tue of a decline which must have been ter
OF tho present week amounts to about % cents
per bushel, which entails loss of about
$500 goo in the selling. yalue Of tho wheat
in store, to say nothing OF the CORE
spending shrinkaye on an untold number of
millions of bushels that bad been bought for
delivery this month and q smaller decline in
longer futures. The break carried the market
down to about the figure allowed by the bnnks
to the parties who borrowed money on the
property. and this fact induced good buying by
men who think 1t muRt be worth at least that
much. In other words, there is pretty good
reason to believe that the storm is over,
though the commercial atmosphere will be
unsettled for some time to come and it will be
several days before all tho wrecks are cleared
away. And the list OF those wrecks is a long
one.
CHICAGO had four big fires on Friday and
rds ono IN forndr,, ana ~ 80.
large ono in tho air Ibo h,.zo ~ t,,a =.
mosnbere nrob,b,v ala mora a.naas 49,,
tho other three and Il yave tho firo,nan
nearly as mncb tronhlo s;mni,, s..na;aa
in the ann was enongb - mara ,,an,a taas
look like piece of boiled ham Int with M
MIXTURE of sweat and dnst on hi. fo.,,.as -
wore the air of rn;ned Mo Tho hn,ta.t Az.
of ,he wear was tbe hottest in this yoar,s oai
endar of tho Fire Denartment Alarm. ,raro
sent in from twoptv-four bo.es and inc,ndod
three second alarms. three third alarms and
a special cali for ian onpnes Th;rt, th~ao
engines and the two tire-boats were calied ont
nearly the entire force Of tbe den,rtment
The steamer Cbamnlain. bonnd for cbo,o,
gan from Chicago. was burned on Frida,
morning between Norwood and Cb,rlevo;r
at tho mouth Of Grand Traverse Raw Tha
flames suddenly shot up from ban,ath Tho on
giue. driving the encinee, from, b,s ,,oo, ,,;,,,
his clothes on fire. He plunged into n tonl,
| o,d +,,a, =. t,,.,.., a. ~ :,